KUALA LUMPUR : Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday, mirroring overnight losses on Wall Street, as market sentiment turned cautious following heightened geopolitical tensions and weaker labour data from the United States.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 2.78 points to 1,515.34, down from Thursday’s close of 1,518.12. The benchmark index opened slightly softer at 1,516.91, registering a drop of 1.21 points at the start of trading.
Market breadth was negative, with 207 counters declining against 84 gainers. A total of 243 counters remained unchanged, while 1,812 were untraded and 20 suspended. Turnover stood at 119.92 million units with a total value of RM70.92 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that investors are closely monitoring developments surrounding a recent phone conversation between China’s President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. Trump described the call as “very good”, raising expectations that a bilateral meeting may take place in the near future.
Meanwhile, mixed signals from the US labour market added to investor caution. Latest data pointed to a slowdown in job growth, while the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note ticked up slightly to 4.39 per cent, suggesting market concerns over inflationary pressures and Federal Reserve policy direction.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced further, buoyed by China’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) figures for May, which exceeded market expectations and helped alleviate fears of a broader economic deceleration.
Domestically, the FBM KLCI came close to breaching the 1,520 level on Thursday, possibly driven by more aggressive stock accumulation by local institutional investors.
“We were surprised by this sudden strong buying interest after a lacklustre performance throughout the past month. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,515 to 1,530 range,” said Thong.
-Bernama
